Entries Tagged 'Articles' ↓
August 28th, 2012 — Articles
When Giving Online is Not Ideal | Idealware.
As fundraisers we dream about the new frontier of online giving as a potential golden ticket for reaching younger or more tech savvy donors. Driving everyone to give online, in monthly installments, is all the rage. But what happens when a donor wants to give $1000 or more? Is there potential negative organizational impact in accepting large gifts online?
August 2nd, 2012 — Articles
According to the infographic below from attachments.me, email is not dead! To tell you the truth, it’s alive and growing.
Here are a few highlights:
• 3.3 billion = Total number of email accounts worldwide
• The number of email accounts beats instant messaging and social networking accounts in sheer numbers:
- Number of social networking accounts = 2.7 billion
- Number of instant messaging accounts = 2.7 billion
• $40 for every $1 invested = ROI of emailing marketing in 2011
Here are more statistics to prove that email is not dead: Continue reading →
April 13th, 2012 — Articles, Resources
From Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn, nonprofits are flocking to social media, but not everyone is prepared for the challenges and ramifications of what you post--or how to manage the process. Who is allowed to tweet? Who can comment on your posts? How do you respond if someone says something mean about your organization? How do you make use of what social media offers while protecting your nonprofit and your constituents?
As nonprofits have increasingly turned to social media, policies and guidelines to govern their use of social media have become the new frontier. The open and community-based aspects of social media can be a huge benefit for nonprofits looking to reach out to new audiences and engage their existing base, but sometimes it can seem that no one knows the right way to use each channel, or where the lines are drawn—or even how to find out.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
A good social media policy will provide clear guidelines as to what staff should and shouldn’t do when posting and interacting with the community on a day-to-day basis. Your organization can create a policy to help guide your whole staff simply by thinking about how you would like to make use of social media.
Written using the research from the Nonprofit Social Media Decision Guide, this workbook is designed to help you, as an organization, ask the important questions about social media, and take the next steps to growing a social culture.
March 29th, 2012 — Articles
71% of adults who go online watch video. Incorporating video into emails increases engagement and improves click-through rates. Every marketer wants higher open rates, more clicks, more engaging emails and stickier websites. Using video (correctly) in email can achieve all of those goals. Video lightens the load of the copywriter, simplifies emails and enhances your brand image. Best of all, it’s a low-cost, high-impact, easily measurable email component.
Use Video in Email.
March 6th, 2012 — Articles
Remember Me From Yesterday?
The New York Times style section ran a piece asking the question, “Remember me from yesterday?” With social networks like Facebook becoming a high school of sorts on its own (where you virtually pass by casual acquaintances, friends, and “frenemies” alike), is there any mystery left for attending your high school reunion?"
Social Media Reduce Allure of High School Reunions - NYTimes.com.
February 21st, 2012 — Articles
February 14th, 2012 — Articles
February 10th, 2012 — Articles
It’s 2012. Anyone affiliated with public education . . . knows that last year and this year are game-changers in how we fund public education. Say goodbye to hoagie sales and car washes and hello to big-time fundraising.
via Key to public school funding? How about foundations | PennLive.com.
February 7th, 2012 — Articles
The Napa Group: November 2010 - Download PDF
As university and alumni association funding resources become tighter and continue to change, one of the front-burner questions today is: “What is the best funding model for our alumni relations activities?” This survey of 20 public and private institutions also includes analytics on several trends that are impacting alumni relations programming priorities, association structuring, communications and mission and vision. Through comprehensive strategic planning, many associations are tackling these interrelated questions to position themselves for growth and stability for the future.
February 3rd, 2012 — Articles, Resources
While reading my daily briefing on alumni relations discussions I came upon this Q&A that I thought was just perfect to share with you.
Q. How do you prove the value of alumni relations on your campus and within the advancement department? With tighter budgets these days you may find yourself having to justify alumni relations expenses to your boss.
A. From Michael Wall, Director of Alumni Relations, Anoka-Ramsey Community College, Coon Rapids, MN:
I think you will get four answers or types of answers:
1) You can't. (I would ignore this, as it does not help and we all know administrators and trustees who hold purse string do not often fund based on faith.)
2) Everyone knows that alumni relations is necessary; all the big universities and privates have them. (Again, no help here. If everyone knew this to be true then there would not be a need for us to justify through data.
Two left, one cold, hard science and one warm, fuzzy, and perhaps no less true.
3) Alumni Relations is valuable because we have the data to prove it. (This is, of course, on the heels of your work collecting and analyzing data, and finding that in your case it is true.) Data points for involvement, attendance, communication, and other indicators of engagement can certainly be tracked and compared to giving for the individual and group. The more engaged, we may show with data, the more likely to give and perhaps give more generously. (And, it goes without saying, and yet here I go saying it, that stewardship of the relationship, matching alumni with efforts, projects, needs, etc. that match that person's interests/concerns have a large role to play in the direction and intensity of giving.)
4) Alumni Relations is an investment in the future of the institution. Results will not show monetarily in the near term, as our alumni are still in school or paying for it and getting adjusted to the 'real world.' But the things we do in Alumni Relations- engaging them on campus as students, maintaining contact once they leave, updating pertinent life information in their record, inviting and encouraging them to return, utilizing them in substantive, productive ways to help the institution and the students through their gifts of time and expertise (volunteering), exposing them to the giving of others and the impact those donations made (on their costs as a student and on the costs for current and future students- these things set alumni up to be donors. Giving back is so, so often not a reflex, not a product of attendance. Giving back is a matter of feeling invested and invested in, and a part of the life of the institution.
That last one is my pitch because we have only paid attention to our alumni for the past five or six years. Go decades through the life of an institution without any education about what it is to be alumni and without any ongoing connection, and when you start your alumni program it is going to take time for the money to begin to roll in, if it will at all. If we knew who would give what there would be a lot fewer of us and a lot more psychics in Advancement.
That's my two cents.
